Losing their bottle in Tonbridge

Well done to the Tonbridge Branch, led by Jon Botten (assisted by his girlfriend Victoria Cole), local councillors Jess Elks and Jean Atkinson and committee members Benjamin Elks (with a hangover) and Jenny Cooper. They raised almost £200 for Association funds from running a bottle tombola at a charity summer fete this afternoon.

Not only did this enable members to clear out the back of their cupboards (all those ghastly bottles of wine won at previous Tory raffles) but it also raised money from a different group of people to those who always contribute. And it 'flew the flag' at a charity event run by the community centre in our key marginal ward.

Here (left) is a hopeful local punter picking his lucky tickets, no doubt hoping to win a bottle of Tesco Liebfraumilch.

Any resemblance to parliamentary hopeful, Alan Mak, must surely be a co-incidence!

Thanks to all who donated bottles, set up and run the stall - and spent their hard-earned cash trying to win back the prizes they donated. No doubt we shall see a few of the bottles back in the next raffle.

By the way, in C&A we once had a bottle of De Kuyper Apricot Brandy which appeared in every raffle for three years before someone kept it.  It was like a bereavement.